Flow E-mail Links

A Power Automate tutorial by Peter Kalmström

When you create a flow that sends an e-mail notification when a new item is added to a SharePoint list or library, you probably want to include some links in the e-mail. In the demo below Peter Kalmström, CEO and Systems Designer of kalmstrom.com Business Solutions, gives a few examples on how to build common links.

Peter uses a Procedures document library with a flow in his example, but the links he shows can be used in SharePoint lists too, with minor modifications. These modifications are pointed out in the demo.

In the demonstration Peter uses links to one specific document in various modes, and he pastes all links into the e-mail body when he creates the flow. Then he replaces the specific parts of the link code with dynamic fields, so that the links always point to the document that has been created.

The links can of course be written in also. In that case the dynamic fields are selected directly while the link is built.

Below are the links Peter shows. Red text in the link code represents dynamic fields. For each such parameter, Peter removes the item specific text in the link and replaces it with the proper field.

The document/item in edit mode:
[Link to item]
The document properties in
- display mode:
  <site URL><List Name>/Forms/Dispform.aspx? ID=[ID]
- edit mode:
  <site URL><List Name>/Forms/Editform.aspx? ID=[ID]
The list item properties in
- display mode:
  <site URL>/Lists/<List Name>/Dispform.aspx? ID=[ID]
- edit mode:
  <site URL>/Lists/<List Name>/Editform.aspx? ID=[ID]
  Note that "Lists" is for English SharePoint versions. If you have another language, use the corresponding word in that language. For example, when you have a Swedish SharePoint you should use "Listor".
Version history:
<site URL>/_layouts/15/Versions.aspx?
(/list=<List ID>)
&FileName=<site relative URL>/
[Folder path] [File name with extension]
The document in preview mode:
<site URL>[Folder path]/Forms/AllItems.aspx?
id=<site relative URL>/
[Folder path] [File name with extension]
&parent=<site relative URL>/[Folder path]
Alert on document/item:
<site URL>/ _layouts/15/SubNew.aspx?List=<List ID>&ID=[ID]

Note that these alerts now have been removed from SharePoint Online and replaced with rules and reminders.

In the demo Peter also shows how to get the List ID from the List settings URL.

The links described above work fine when users upload files to a library and do not changed the file names.

When a new document is created in SharePoint, there will probably be a problem with links that include the dynamic field "File name with extension":

A user creates a document that automatically gets the name Document1.docx.
Flow sends an e-mail with a link to the document.
The user changes the file name into something more descriptive.
Flow cannot change the file name in the already sent e-mail, so the link will not work.

Adding a delay to the flow will solve that problem.

If you prefer to use a SharePoint Designer workflow for the e-mail alert, please refer to the article about links in workflow generated e-mails. SharePoint Designer workflows are no longer supported in SharePoint Online.